'Delusional' man insane but not guilty in weed-trimmer slaying of father

A Woodridge man who beat his father to death with a weed trimmer suffered hallucinations and delusions, a psychologist testified Monday, just before a judge found the man not guilty of murder by reason of insanity.

After hearing two independent reports that Yashesh S. Desai could not appreciate the criminality of his actions during the attack on his father, DuPage County Judge Robert Kleeman acquitted him of murder.

Following the judge's ruling, Desai, 22, was immediately taken back into custody. He will be held at the DuPage County Jail until the state Department of Human Services conducts an evaluation. Desai faces a period of up to 60 years of involuntary commitment at a secure state mental health facility. His next court hearing is March 5.

His attorney, Assistant Public Defender Ruth Walstra, called the not guilty by reason of insanity ruling "the most appropriate decision."

Yashesh Desai was charged with murder in the the Aug. 14, 2011 slaying of Sanjiv Desai, 47, at the family's home on Plover Court in Woodridge. The father was found lying on a futon in a den, dead of massive head injuries with pieces of the shattered weed trimmer on the floor and in the adjacent living room, according to testimony.

Desai, covered in his father's blood, was taken into custody at the home.

He was later declared unfit to stand trial, but was restored to fitness during a six-month stint at the Chester Mental Health Center.

Monday, prosecutors and defense presented a stipulated bench trial, which meant almost all the testimony was entered via written summations that both sides had agreed to before trial. That left the major decision for the judge: Desai's mental state at the time of the crime.

John Murray, a forensic psychologist for the DuPage Department of Court Services, the trial's only in-person witness, said he tried several times, without success, to interact and interview Desai in October 2011.

"He just wasn't rational at all," said Murray, who said Desai gave "bizarre" answers to questions.

Desai had a history of mental health troubles, according to the psychologists, and had previously been hospitalized. He had grown increasingly aggressive and anxious in the days leading up to the attack, his family told police.

A burst of thunderstorm activity across the Chicago area in Sunday afternoon resulted in multiple injuries and a death at an event in west suburban Wood Dale, the collapse of a dome in northwest suburban Rosemont and the temporary evacuation of the music festival Lollapalooza in Grant Park downtown.

Now there are two: Zimbabwe accused a Pennsylvania doctor on Sunday of illegally killing a lion in April, adding to the outcry over a Minnesota dentist the African government wants to extradite for killing a well-known lion named Cecil in early July.